Treat Your Body Write!
by Robin Bayne

"Sit Up Straight and Don't Rub Your Eyes!"
(Some Tips on More Comfortable Writing)

When I was a teenager working my first real job, I thought with envy of those lucky souls who had "desk jobs." They got to sit most of the day, not languish on sore feet and achy knees for four or five hours each day after school. On weekends, I often worked ten and twelve hour days on my feet for minimum wage.

Eventually I got my wish, and began working in the mortgage industry processing loans during the great refinance boom of 1985. I was desk-bound twelve to fourteen hours each day, unless I took some work home at night and sprawled out on the living room floor. Then I added college classes on evenings and weekends, followed after graduation by the ultimate desk job—writer. I'd gone from standing in a retail store to a dual career that burned many fewer calories and put strain on different parts of my body. It amazed me to learn you can be sore and uncomfortable working at a desk! My teenage fantasy of being comfortable at work faded into a haze of dim monitors, computer mice and keyboards. So I began to investigate ways to make desk work easier on body and vision.

Mama always said that if you fixed your posture, your entire body would feel better. (Actually, I think my old ballet teacher used to say that, but it was a good point nonetheless.) I tend to sit with one leg tucked under me and slightly round-shouldered toward the monitor. This cuts off blood flow and makes my back ache, but there are several ways to improve body placement. One is with an ergonomic chair and/or a footrest. Other key props are mouse and wrist pads as well as computer glasses.

Do you find your head tilted to one side all the time as you hold a phone? Are your shoulders consistently raised or tense? Your elbows splayed to the sides? Wrists working in unnatural positions for long periods of time? Do you lean toward your monitor in order to see? Do you sit with your torso twisted while typing? Do your feet dangle or do you put too much pressure on the backs of your thighs? Does your lower back cry out for lumbar support? Review a complete writer's posture checklist at Office-ergo and investigate simple, possible solutions. Also at Office-ergo you will find tips on ergonomic chairs, alternative keyboards, avoiding carpal tunnel and eyestrain.

Author Kaye Dacus once served on an Ergonomics Task Force. She recommends:

Taking a break after about 10 to 15 minutes of constant typing is recommended—stand up, rotate your shoulders and arms, stretch your arms above your head and behind your back, and perhaps put on some lotion or at least massage your hands for a few seconds to restore proper circulation—you can do this in 30 to 60 seconds and be right back to typing.

Think of the connection between your wrist and hand as a garden hose. If you keep the hose straight, there is no problem getting anything through it. If you fold that hose at an extreme angle, you compress the channel (the tunnel) through which everything (nerves, tendons, blood vessels) flows. No circulation gets through to the end (the hand/fingers) and pressure builds up behind the bend (the wrist). If you do this with a hose regularly, it weakens the hose and the pressure behind it will eventually create a lot of problems—same with your wrists.

As far as monitor height, the most common recommendation is that you want to have it at such a height that your directly-forward gaze hits the top of the screen (not the top of the monitor, but the top of the actual viewing screen). However, with the advent of much larger screens and the fact that we as writers are typically focused on the bottom of the screen as we type, if you adjust your monitor height so that when you look directly forward, your gaze hits a little above the middle of the screen, you might find you have less neck strain from looking down at the last line of the screen where you are typing.

Run a Google search and you will find links to articles such as "The Perils of PC Posture" and "How to Avoid Repetitive Strain Injury." It's amazing how many people have been helped by making simple adjustments to their workstation.

"Ergonomics is more than a good chair and proper keyboard height."    ~ Kelly McClymer

Before you go back to your desk, spend some time caring for your eyes. Author Kelly McClymer wrote an article for Novelists, Inc., in which she explained how her eyes had developed a gritty feeling under the lid, followed by dizziness and a need for strong reading glasses before she started to care for them. When spending less time reading and typing didn't help, her mentor suggested extra-lubricating eye drops. She adjusted the resolution on her screen and added light when reading. While this gave her some relief from the "sandpaper" feeling, it wasn't enough and she began to research eyestrain on the Internet. I did the same and have learned our eyes must be stretched once in a while, just like our legs. Because our eyes have muscles, eye exercises can relieve the strain they feel from focusing up close for too long. Every two hours or so, stop staring at the monitor and try some eye stretches. Simply looking away from the monitor can be helpful.

You can find exercises online. They offer eye exercises including Eye Yoga, Palming, Scanning, Near-Far Focus, Head Rolls and Hydrotherapy. This site also gives free tips on setting up your workstation including table leg, chair and monitor levels, monitor brightness and keyboard/wrist settings.

Writer Marilyn Sue says: "An eye doctor recommended I get computer glasses. I wear trifocals and the computer glasses are made with the major portion of each lens being the bifocal prescription and the lower portions being the trifocal prescriptions. They certainly reduce neck strain. The other thing I found helpful is changing the screen and/or document themes for softer color combinations. Since I am encouraged by pastels they help with my creativity as well as my comfort."

Margot Hausmann agrees: "My step-father is an ophthalmologist, and when he recommended eye drops I just dismissed it. [Because my eyes don't feel particularly dry] But now that the writers are saying it, I'm listening!"

If you can get away from your desk, grab an Alpha Smart or laptop computer and work somewhere else for a while. Or take a legal pad and roller ball pen for some old-fashioned long-hand writing. For more relaxation, try abdominal breathing (slow, deep breaths which allow your abdomen to expand as you breath in, then contract as you exhale) and aroma therapy. Light a candle or plug in an electric scent dispenser. Enjoy your surroundings. And I hope you will feel relaxed as you write.

Keep in mind that none of this should be taken as medical advice, and you should consult with your own doctor before making any significant changes. The greater our productivity, the more time we'll spend sitting as we write, edit, and re-write. Nonetheless, we can limit the negative impact of eyestrain and posture problems, as we take care of our bodies.